


so magnetic

by Finian



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
Genre: Idiots in Love, M/M, Rated E for future chapters, Robot Kink, Tags to be added, Trans Male Character, au where robotnik's existence was erased and he was not, robot prosthesis, vague transhumanism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 00:21:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29501223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Finian/pseuds/Finian
Summary: There weren’t many biomechanics that he trusted to look into his circuitry, and less that knew what they were looking at once they got in there, and only one that would take him in for checkups- he’d do it himself, sure, but the stress it put on his neck to crane his head around towards the back of his shoulder wasn’t quite worth the hassle.Except now, to that mechanic and to the entire world, he no longer existed. Damn. Really threw a goddamn wrench into his plans.
Relationships: Dr. Eggman | Dr. Robotnik/Agent Stone
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	so magnetic

**Author's Note:**

> This is an AU where instead of ending up in mushroom hell (tm), the government just wipes their hands clean of Robotnik and leave him to his own devices so long as he doesn't give them issues. Stone stays with him. I just think those two would stick together no matter what, you know?

The silence in the workshop- and his latest project- were broken with the clattering of a delicate chip hitting the floor. Silence rushed back in for a moment like the waves, closing overhead as (he could hear it, the pause) Stone held his breath.

“Shit.” It was a whisper, barely, and then a shout. “ _Shit!_ ”

“I’m sure it’s salvageable-” He didn’t have time for the way pity laced his assistant's voice, the shift of his weight as he moved to help. Robotnik stopped him with one hand, fingers twitching as he rode out the feedback from his power supply. There was no glove on the smooth white plasteel, red circuitry peeking through the cracks of his joints- as the twitching stopped, he wrapped each finger towards his palm like a test, a reassurance that it still worked. He knew he was just about a week overdue for a readjustment, a quick catalog to make sure everything was still plugged in right ( _which it absolutely wasn’t_ ) that he performed diligently on his hip and leg every six weeks but avoided like the plague until his arm began acting up. There weren’t many biomechanics that he trusted to look into his circuitry, and less that knew what they were looking at once they got in there, and only one that would take him in for checkups- he’d do it himself, sure, but the stress it put on his neck to crane his head around towards the back of his shoulder wasn’t quite worth the hassle.

Except now, to that mechanic and to the entire world, he no longer existed. Damn. Really threw a goddamn wrench into his plans. A moment passed where he considered setting up a few mirrors, but with his whole arm glitching out like that, the chance of just dropping them was less than ideal. Shame that he wasn’t done with that second set yet, being able to slip into those would have afforded him the extra hands he needed- no, no, he had those, didn’t he.

“Clean it up- carefully- and meet me in my office.” What a pain. He stood as Stone jumped to attention, sweeping past him and giving one of his wandering Badnik crew members an affectionate pat with his organic (gloved) hand. He stepped around his desk chair, sweeping his things aside and ignoring the flutter of paper as it fell off the other side where he knew it would sit ignored until Stone thought to pick it up in some pointlessly thoughtful and endearing gesture. His coat joined the mess on the floor next to his desk, and after a moment of working at the buttons of his shirt with one hand, that went along with it.

He didn’t often spend time staring down at himself, didn’t often have time, but he spared the expanse of his chest a good few seconds of appraisal. Scars, sure, crossing up from his hip where his leg attached, down from the shoulder of the same side to meet in a jagged line down his side, still shiny and purple where they hid wires underneath. Across his chest, pulled taught, silver and faded with age. A square of punctures down low that disappeared into the waistband of his pants on his other hip that surrounded a short incision where a machine had braced against him as he explored his own-

“Stone, are you going to stand in my doorway and wait for an invitation to do as you’re told, or are you going to listen?”

“I didn’t know you had a tattoo, sir.” How his assistant could always sound so _happy_ in there with him was beyond both his understanding and his concern as he turned, moving to put his tattoo, all abstract harsh lines across his shoulder blades, out of Stone’s eyeline again as he braced his hands against the desk and pulled himself up to sit.

“And now you do. Would you like a certificate?” He sneered, even as he beckoned him over. “I need you to tighten the connections in my shoulder. Can you do that without incapacitating me?”

“I would never do anything to hurt you, Doctor, you know that.” That dopey smile plucked at the wires in his heart, chest tight as he reached up to unlatch the plating of his arm- underneath the plasteel, the metal framework and red wires looked almost sinister, chaotic if not for the careful labelling on every input. He trusted Stone, and the thought only made his bones want to crack inwards harder, organic shoulder tucking up towards his chest as he held his knees apart. 

“You’re going to have to get closer to work on this, unless you’ve recently developed psiokinetic abilities that you’ve neglected to tell me about.” He had to angle his knees wider as Stone stepped between them, and after a moment, he settled them against his hips. This sort of contact was necessary, he told himself, in case he slipped. That was it. “I trust you can figure it out from here- and be gentle with those things, I can feel them.”

He was almost mad when Stone tightened the first connection perfectly- of course he would be good at it, he’d practically been training him since they met to be able to carry out simple tasks like this for him, even if he’d yet to utilize him. After a moment, just to be sure he was safe letting him work unfettered, Robotnik dropped his head forwards onto his assistant's shoulder to give his poor back a break.

“You built this.” It wasn’t a question, but a dawning realization. He bit back the impulse to call Stone an idiot for not seeing the similarities between his limbs and his Badniks, trying to be patient. 

“I did, yes.” His free hand drummed along the table, leather thudding against the metal.

“I thought you’d just made a new shell for them, but you built them from the inside out.” Stone continued, though his chatter didn’t hinder the work at hand. “I can tell, you know, because you always tuck the power supply as far up and to the right as you can.” He’d noticed something as trivial as that? There was no reason for him to build things the way he did other than pure habit, leftover from his first few forays into personal android schematics where the power supply was always nestled at the base of the spine- which he had thought was immediately garish, opting to build his with the power in the brain, where it ought to be. And Stone had noticed it often enough to be able to pick it out on something as complex as a limb?

“I think I don’t give you enough credit for that kind of observation.” His voice was muffled in Stone’s jacket, so he turned his head to the side to watch the flex of tendons under his lab partner’s skin as he moved his arms around his head.

“You don’t have to. It’s just part of my job.”

“I don’t do things because I have to, I do them because I want to. Progress report.”

“Almost done.” He let his eyes slip shut- he had been working for a while, he could tell as much by the way his eyes burned against his eyelids. When had he slept? Stone had gotten on him before for not keeping his health up, for putting more work into his creations and machines instead of his own physical form- but the more he whittled down at his organics, the less work he required. “You should take a break. Unless you slept while I was gone, you’ve been up since yesterday morning, and the sun’s down.”

“I was planning a break anyways.” He wanted to snap at him, but the bite didn’t quite reach his mouth. Stone was the only living creature that he would tolerate this kind of treatment from, the only non-machine that he would allow himself any modicum of vulnerability near. When Stone finished and he could feel the pressure moving away from his wires, he didn’t move. Neither of them did.

“What does it feel like when I touch your arm?”

“Like you’re touching my arm, Stone, what sort of question-” He stopped as the pressure returned, fingers winding through his wires and holding the steel frame of his bones tight. There was a question, unspoken, in the contact where he’d only ever had other metal or his own gloved hand dug in deep for repairs. He could ruin his arm with a tug, rip the wires from their entry, pull his joints all out of alignment and leave him stranded in his lab like a ghost. He wet his lips before he spoke again, turning his head to press his forehead into the seam where his coat met his sleeve as his heart- the annoying chunk of meat- threw itself like an animal against the woven strips of his thoracic basket. “Okay.”

“Okay.” Stone parrotted, squeezing at the metal in his palm, before pulling his hand away. On impulse, the world’s most dangerous evil scientist pressed his thighs together, momentarily forgetting that the assistant to the world’s most dangerous evil scientist was busy standing between them and sliding his hands underneath his thighs to lift him off of the table with a quiet huff. Stone was… stronger than he looked- or the extralight framing of his limbs made him easier to lift, which was more than likely the case, but the thought of his beloved ( _beloved?_ ) assistant being able to scoop him up like he was a piece of turret casing flung past a shelf on a failed test was- well. “You’re going to bed, and I am turning off any alarm you set, and when you wake up some time past six am, you can go back to work.”

He was thankful that he’d stashed a cot further back in the lab, ankles crossing behind Stone as he was carried. One of his Badniks- on it’s own accord or because Stone had gestured for it, he wasn’t sure- zipped past them to pull the bed away from the wall, creaky springs and threadbare blanket under his ass in moments as he struggled to pull his legs away before Stone crowded down into him.

“Doctor, I’m going to be back here at six, and you better be asleep still.”

“That makes no sense. At that point, you should just stay the night to be sure I don’t wait until you’re gone and just get up to work- go get my arm casing, I don’t want things coming loose in my sleep.”

“You’re holding onto me, I can’t go get it.” For a moment, he tightened his legs around him- and then retracted as he pushed him back, one metal foot pressed to the center of his chest as he straightened his leg out.

“I knew that.” He’d meant for it to be snippier than it had been, but even to his own ears, he just sounded tired. Between wrecking his project and the way Stone had snuck his fingers into his wiring like that, he’d just about had it with emotions and consciousness. He’d never admit it, of course, but he was thankful for the opportunity to be bullied into rest; a sort of hard reboot that he often wished he could install a button for on his own. To his credit, Stone moved to get his arm casing without a word of protest, and left it on the cot for him to snap into place himself, as if he knew how much he hated being fussed over when it came to his new limbs. 

He probably did know, actually. There was no reason to trick himself into thinking that Stone didn’t know practically everything there was to know about him at this point, from how and when he liked his coffee to the way he worked. He snatched his casings up from the sheets, swallowing as he clicked everything into place.

“Why are you still here, Stone?” That too, was quiet, the way he wanted it to be.

“I’m waiting for you to go to sleep, Doctor, I thought you made that clear.” He didn’t have to look up to hear him smiling. He shifted back in the bed, swinging his legs up and pressing his back against the cool wall of his shop.

“I meant with me. At all.” He jammed his organic arm under the pillow he’d landed on, propping his head up slightly as he watched his assistant smile like he’d just offered him the entire fucking sun on a platter.

“Who else would keep you running?” He offered, turning slightly as he shrugged out of his jacket. “You need someone around to remind you to eat and drink and sleep. You’d do the same for your babies, wouldn’t you?”

“Are you calling me a robot, Stone?” He smiled, despite himself. He should have been upset at that answer, but instead, his chest felt tight and warm. “No sense in you sitting up all night babysitting me. Come.” The bright white of his hand made the cot look dingy in comparison as Stone sat, and then laid down beside him, foreheads nearly touching.

Stone said something that he didn’t register, and before he was aware that he was even on his way to sleep, his eyes were shut and the world was dark.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, unbeta'd, don't be shy if I've made a typo somewhere. Requests for future chapters in the same world are open as the plans for the plot are hazy at best. Comments about anything are always appreciated, and I haven't posted work in a long time, so forgive me :')


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